’nuff said

Whew! 11 days in Aussie, $400 poorer, and here is what I got.

This is for the competition at Beading Forum.

To be honest I’m a bit disappointed with the selections at the bead shops I went to in Sydney. If you like glass beads then you’ll be spoiled by the color-coordinated jars of beads, but findings and other materials are lacking. Prices are also more expensive than in Singapore, probably due to higher taxes there. But all in all, I’m quite happy with my purchase.

nitrogen from water

One of my biggest challenge in doing this hobby is that what I have in mind usually does not match what I have in my very limited beads stash. In the end, either I have few pieces of half-baked pieces or abandon the idea altogether and start thinking of a new design. Trips to local bead shops don’t really help either as most shops here carry limited range so it’s difficult to gather all the required components. Or maybe I just cannot think properly once I’m inside the shops.

I don’t know how to properly build my inventory to cover all the basics while still on budget. With semi-precious going for at least $15 a strand, every trip to bead shops burns hole in my poor wallet.

uranium resources

I was looking for the website that lists Australian PR application timeline in Google and could not find it using various search term combinations. Then I remembered that I first saw the link on the blog of a Singaporean who migrated to Perth sometime last year. I didn’t remember his blog address but the name ‘Knight of Pentacles’ sticks in my mind. So I searched for that instead.

What I found in Google was more than what I had expected. This guy, Knight of Pentacles, was found dead in his room by his housemate No other details as to why it happened but I guess it doesn’t matter. Tributes for him can be found here, here, here, and in many other blogs.

I don’t know this guy. Never post comments on his blog either. But I enjoyed reading his posts, his opinions about the govenment, his ups and downs in life, and most importantly his journey to go to the land of the koalas. He might or might not realize that there are people like me, lurkers who read and learn from his writings. Once I thought, perhaps I will post comments there to thank him for the inspiration and information if our application went through. But I guess he already knows now.

So goodbye and thanks! May you rest in peace.

PS.
Here is the information I was looking for: public notary, visa processing timeline